Right parties unite, new leader to be elected in six months

ANAVATAN, which former President Turgut Özal established in 1983 after the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980, has wound itself up 26 years later and joined the DP.

According to the merger agreement, a congress will be held in six months to elect the new leader of the party. A rotation chairmanship system will be in place and the new leader is expected to be Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the head of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB). In reaction to the merger, former True Path Party (DYP) members are gathering around Tansu Çiller and former ANAVATAN members are huddling around İlhan Kesici.

The DP and ANAVATAN had decided to unite ahead of the presidential election in May 2007, but it was a fiasco. During the presidential elections, former DP leader Mehmet Ağar had dissuaded Erkan Mumcu-led ANAVATAN from attending the parliamentary sessions for electing the president, thereby creating a crisis. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) decided to hold early elections, giving the two parties an overwhelming defeat in the parliamentary elections of July 22, 2007.

It was a first in the history of Turkish politics that two political parties held their party congresses alternately in the same hall. In the DP’s congress, held in Atatürk Sports Hall, the party by-laws were amended to ensure that ANAVATAN is represented in the management structure of the DP. The number of members of the General Executive Board (GİK) of the DP, which normally consists of 50, was temporarily increased to 100. In this way, 50 members from ANAVATAN were appointed as GİK members.

Hüsamettin Cindoruk, who will head the DP during the transition period, indicated that the unified party will continue to be named the Democrat Party. “They said that we could not do it, but we did it. Here is the solution, here is the party,” he said, and continued to defend the arrested members of the Ergenekon terrorist organization. “I feel sorry for the defendants held in jail in Silivri. I expect them to be evacuated immediately,” he said, and demanded that Professor Mehmet Haberal, journalist Mustafa Balbay and Tuncay Özkan, who were arrested on charges of being members of the Ergenekon terrorist organization, be released at once.

ANAVATAN leader Salih Uzun responded to the criticism that those who closed down Turgut Özal’s party will be called to account in the face of history. “Tomorrow, someone will say that ANAVATAN is history. Özal is history, they will say. No, ANAVATAN is not history, but it intends to make history,” he said.

Out of 1,100 ANAVATAN delegates, 704 voted for the merger and 18 delegates voted against it. Another interesting point was that when the name of Çiller was announced, party delegates enthusiastically applauded her. Former Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz, an independent deputy from Rize, who is regarded as one of the masterminds of the merger, said that he held the proxy for former President Demirel, who did not attend the congress. The other mastermind of the merger is said to be Demirel.

New target is to recruit left-leaning figures

A surprise development at the merger congress involved Professor Yılmaz Büyükerşen, Eskişehir Mayor from the Democratic Left Party (DSP). Despite Cindoruk’s persistent calls, Büyükerşen did not fully join the party, but hinted that he will join the DP in the next congress. The two parties agreed on a rotating chairmanship system and will have two candidates, one for the leadership and one for prime minister. ANAVATAN’s prime ministerial candidate is expected to be Büyükerşen.

The two parties have invited many leftist figures to join. However, only former Gaziantep Mayor Celal Doğan of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) responded positively. Doğan has also become a DP executive. Professor Süheyl Batum and former CHP leader Hikmet Çetin have refrained from joining the party at this stage.

Yılmaz did not go after his dreams of being the leader of the merger, but decided to be a member of the GİK. With Yılmaz’s participation, the DP is now being represented in Parliament.